Pak missiles

Days after a Houthi range, hypersonic Ballistic Missile hit Tel Aviv, the US State Department has said that it would continue to use sanctions and "other tools" to protect American national security, hinting at even wider sanctions by saying that the US financial system cannot be used by "proliferators", specifying Pakistans Ballistic program as a threat. 

Recently, the US had slapped sanctions on multiple Chinese entities for supplying Shaheen III and Ababeel missile systems, while similar sanctions had been applied to 3 Chinese companies in October 2023, for supplying Pakistan's missile program - the Gaza Offensive began fortuitously around the same time. 

The State Department further opened that the Beijing Research Institute of Automation for Machine Building Industry had partnered with Pakistan to procure parts for the Shaheen III and the Ababeel systems, as well as for potentially "larger missile systems". 

Therefore, the sanctions regime against Pakistan has dramatically widened from the initial concerns around the nuclear program, targetted through the Pressler Amendment, to delivery systems that can carry payloads and act as a deterrent against hostile Indian intent against Pakistan. 

Initially, the F16, retrofitted to carry nukes, was made the target of sanctions, compelling Pakistan to jointly produce the JF17 Thunder fighter jet with China. 

In recent years, however, the missile program is increasingly the centerpiece of proliferation activities, after the "Khan Network" was held responsible for attempting to proliferate weapons of mass destruction.  

Following the Indian Cold Start doctrine, based on German Blitzkrieg warfare, Pakistan had developed short range ballistic missiles capable of carrying a tactical battlefield nuclear warhead, to counter Indian armoured warfare objectives, with massive troop numbers deployed at the borders to force Pakistan's hand. 

However, India was successful in making the case to the US and to the international community, that all of the Pakistani missile program, and not just the long range portion of it, constituted a "proliferation risk". 

At the same time, Pakistan has lodged its own concerns, stating that Western nations have waived licencing requirements for advanced military technologies to their favored states, leaving stark asymmetries, technological gaps, and a marked distortion in the balance of power in their wake, which undermine global nonproliferation risks.